One More
by cpfcrox
Summary: A Twilight FanFic set several years after Breaking Dawn. Bella and Edward are starting their new life away from Forks but can everything stay as perfect as they wish?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Sometimes it's hard to look in the mirror. I see this ethereal creature looking back at me, shimmering in the sunlight and smiling, always smiling. Sometimes I wonder if it's real, or am I just dead, in a coma or dreaming? Then Edward stands behind me and envelopes me in his warm, protective arms and I know I'm real, because the rush of emotion I feel could never be a product of even the most over active imagination.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be", came my instinctive reply. Today was the first real day of our new lives in Alaska. Forks was far behind us, and after waiting until Renesme was mature we left, leaving everything we'd known as a family behind us. Rosalie and Emmett stayed behind, keeping an eye on Charlie and Billy Black. Of course Jacob couldn't leave Nessie and travelled with us, keeping her warm during some of the bitter nights. It broke my heart to say goodbye Alice and Jasper but they planned on enjoying some freedom, travelling the world, coven by coven. So today it began, Nessie started her first High School as a freshman and Edward and I were the two foster kids from Washington, who just happened to be madly in love.

"Kids! School! Now!", Esme's dancing voice called up the stairs. She was enjoying this, back to being a real family, back to living the dream and mothering us all, especially Nessie, to within an inch of our existences! We'd already yelled our goodbyes to Jacob, who was working on a local reservation, the cold didn't bother him one bit! I'd spent a few days experimenting with make up and fake tan, I remembered how pale and ghostly the Cullen's had seemed to me as an ignorant human and didn't want to scare any potential friends away, I'd settled on something called "Sun Blush", it warmed me up considerably and I'd compared skin tones with Nessie and I wasn't far off. Edward grasped my hand and I took Nessie's, we marched out of our new home like the family we were.

The first thing that struck me about Copper River High was the smell, the delicious, tangy smell that was taking over my senses from more than a mile away. I'd come to expect this, Carlisle had, in his ample years, experimented with blood and it seemed adolescent blood was by far the most appealing and the scent travelled easily through the air. I took in one last deep breath and then began the irritating routine of making my chest move up and down without actually breathing. It was an annoyingly conscious act which, when I got caught up in any excitement I often forgot to perform but thankfully, few humans noticed unless they looked incredibly closely. We walked, crunching with every step, up the snow covered path to school, seeing everything, every battered Jeep in the parking lot and every kid walking, despondently into homeroom. Here we go again.

I had to fight the urge to hug and kiss Renesme in the school's office, I was fairly sure that wouldn't be considered normal behaviour between sisters, as we were claiming to be. The similarity between me and Nessie had grown over the years, her hair curled gently in a chocolate waterfall down her back and the shape of her eyes matched mine perfectly though she had the advantage of hers not being a shimmering gold. I had no doubt she'd make friends, nobody leaves a pretty girl like her alone during the lunch break, but it still wrenched at my soul to leave her with all these strangers who didn't love her as I did, who didn't know her as I did, what right had they to even speak to such a precious creature as my daughter? Edward gently rested his hand on my shoulder, "Bella, she's going to be fine. I promise." He calmly whispered in my ear. Still, his velvet voice sent shivers down my spine; I replayed every syllable in my head, just to savour it once again.

"Ok sweetie, go in there and knock 'em dead!" said Edward, hiding the fear and anticipation I knew he was sharing with me. Nessie giggled at his choice of words and replied, "I promise to try my very best not to" and in a whisper added "Dad." Edward smiled his heavenly smile and waved her off into the 9th Grade homeroom, once again he took my hand as we slowly headed towards our homeroom; just before we reached the door he gave me a gentle kiss, and then dropped my hand carefully. I had insisted we try our very best not to alienate ourselves from everyone the second we walked in the room and so, for now at least, we were Edward and Bella, just two regular kids. Not married, not parents and most definitely not vampires.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Good morning!" chirruped the tiny bespectacled woman, with mousy brown hair carefully stroking her pale cheeks. I suddenly realised, "Sun Blush" is tanned in Alaska.

The class stared up at us, just as I'd expected, with gawping faces, parted lips and wide eyes. I wanted to grab onto Edward for support so much at that moment, but I knew I couldn't, I was Bella and I was independent and here to make friends. I slowly smiled at a girl in the second row with tightly curled blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, to my shock she tentatively smiled back. I looked at Edward, my eyes questioning whether she was afraid or genuinely pleased to see us, he caught my gaze and nodded with a subtle smile, she was a friend. After we had been introduced to the class of around 20 kids we took our seats, deliberately we sat apart. Once again this was part of my plan to have friends at Copper River, I hated the thought of being so isolated in a crowd of people, and I'd enjoyed my friends in Forks, they became my guide, my gauge of what to do, what to wear and how to behave. The blonde girl was called Flora, she'd moved to Alaska from Vancouver with her mother, who was the school nurse. Though she spoke to me a lot throughout the day, her eyes frequently darted to Edward; I would have been intensely frustrated that I wasn't enough to capture her attention had my eyes not been doing the exact same thing twice as frequently as hers.

I'd decided to focus on different subjects now, this year I was going to become an art master, every stroke of the paintbrush would have a devastatingly powerful effect, yet swathe the canvas in beauty. At least that was my aim. Art was the one class where Edward sat next to me, perhaps a mistake to allow him so close in the subject I had intended on actually working in. His scent made my heart tingle, it had no need to skip a beat any more, it just enjoyed every sense of Edward it got. He didn't say a word to me for the entire hour, at first I was appalled and panicked I'd done something wrong, something against the rules, after all I was still a relatively young vampire, but then he let his hand rest on mine for just a second as I reached for some charcoal and I sighed in relief, he was still mine. Forever.

It seemed, from my amateur viewing, that every girl in Copper River High had noticed Edward's arrival and was rather over excited by it. I didn't need Edward's confirmation at lunch that he had taken over all their thoughts, you could see it in their eyes, whether there or not he had been reflected in them. As we took our seats with Flora and her friend Ellie, a stunning girl with straight midnight hair, Renesme came over to join us briefly, as we'd hoped she had made a swarm of friends within her first hour at school and was quite happy to spend the entire of her lunchtime with them, if we didn't mind. Of course I minded, how could I not, I spent every second of every day wanting to hold her and protect her but I still had a vague sense of rationality and knew this was the best way forward so, smiling painfully I sent her back to her table.

Ellie seemed keen on engaging Edward in conversation, I smiled inwardly, wondering if she'd be so intent upon him if she knew what he was, what we were. Lunchtimes we're a challenge, I'd found that the best way to appear you were living in normality was to eat, so I'd packed two salads, the delicate green leaves topped with several slices of exceptionally rare beef. Edward and I picked at the salads, carefully only eating the slices of beef, the blood dripping tentatively from them. We heard all the gossip at Copper River by the end of lunch, it was apparent that Ellie and Flora wanted to bring us up to speed on everyone and their boyfriends so that we could partake in their conversations of delirious happiness about someone named Scott who had evidently paid Flora more attention than was common earlier that day. I scoffed at first but quickly remembered how exhilarated I had been when Edward first spoke to me, however harsh his words. I knew I had been just as obsessed as they were about him and I recalled the first night I dreamed of him. I didn't care that I could no longer dream as I was living one of bliss with Edward every day. Edward looked over at me and grinned, as though he was about to burst into hysterical laughter, I answered his grin with a quizzical look but he just mumbled, "Later."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As the final bell rang of school I rushed to Edward's side, careful not to exceed average human land speed whilst doing so. I tugged powerfully at the sleeve of his black coat. I'd had sworn to Renesme that we would meet her after school and, if necessary, take her on a hunt. Her thirst was far less violent than mine but she found it more difficult to control and sometimes suffered overpowering cravings of such desire they even shocked her. We galloped along the narrow corridors and came to a startling halt just in front of our darling daughter's locker. Her cheeky smile came peering around the open door, "Afternoon!" she cried happily. Relief swept over me like a lamb's fleece, she had been fine, just as Edward had promised. She spent the next ten minutes chattering away to us about her new classmates whilst fiddling with her locker, something she was very excited by as apparently it made her feel like she was in a teenage film. Someone called Evan seemed to have taken quite a liking to her already and she was already planning shopping mall trips with Carla and Jade, who lived in the middle of the town. I wondered quietly if it was naïve of her to think she could deal with all these people so soon but then quickly quieted myself with the thought that she is our daughter, she can do anything she puts her mind to.

Suddenly, as we were walking out of the school building and heading towards Edward's Volvo I remembered his inward chuckle at lunch. "Edward, what were you so amused by at lunch today?"

"Oh, don't worry, it was nothing."

"Tell me!" I insisted.

"Well, you were so preoccupied with people looking at me you seemed entirely unaware that half the boys in school spent their lunchtime googling you to see if you were actually a supermodel."

Renesme let out a howl of a laugh and rolled off her perch on the trunk of the car.

"You've been hanging out with Jacob too much, you're even starting to sound like him" I smiled as I taunted her. It hadn't occurred to me that I was beautiful now too, I knew I was different, but unless I was looking at myself in a mirror I felt like the same old Bella, shy and self deprecating. It was apparently highly unusual for so much of my human mind to stay with me through the change but I liked it, it meant I could connect with Nessie, Jacob and now the girls at school. The best bit was it meant I could love Edward with every atom of my cursed existence.

The drive home was quiet, only interrupted by the occasional outburst of joy from Nessie and finally, as we pulled onto the drive of the large wooden house we now owned a squeal from her as she saw Jacob with his scruffy mane standing on the porch, the snow landing on his bare arms and practically turning to steam with the intense heat radiating from him.

"So how was my favourite girl on her first day at big kid's school?" he playfully asked her, Renesme understood that Jacob loved her, she loved him, he was always there for her and always on her side no matter what happened. She hadn't yet grasped how Jacob's feelings would develop, Edward and I were hoping she wouldn't grasp this for perhaps another decade or two, but it was proving more and more impossible. Despite her mere eight years Nessie looked like an elegant teenager, and Jacob, a teenager himself could hardly escape her beauty. It wouldn't be long before I'd need to have a stern talk with him about her, I could see she was starting to realise she had some power over him, perhaps subconsciously, but soon she'd know for sure and I didn't want to think about what might happen to my darling baby girl.

Esme had cooked a hearty supper for Jacob and Nessie, which they both tucked into with vigour whilst Edward and I worked on our algebra homework. I was sometimes jealous of Jacob; he could always inspire a grin from Renesme, even when she would stare curses of thunder at Edward and me for punishing her or preventing her doing something. Parenting, as I had quickly found out, was a desperate love hate relationship. You love your child so much you hate it when you're forced to be cruel to them. After their dinner Jacob and Renesme stayed at the table and worked on her homework, Edward and I went outside and sat on the icy steps, staring at the enormous, glowing moon above us. I rested my thought filled head on his shoulder and let myself relax into his arms, not a word was spoken between us, but we knew what every movement meant – I love you. Then our embrace was broken by a shrill ringing from Edward's pocket. He opened his phone and put it quickly to his ear.

"Alice? What's happened?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Ok, tell me, slowly." Edwards's eyebrows glided into a frown as he listened intently to Alice on the other end of the phone. His eyes were fixed on a dark pebble that as yet hadn't been swallowed by the snow. Not for years had I seen his perfect face so torn with anguish, I was desperate to know what was wrong but knew I had to be patient. His worried tones continued to murmur down the phone, until finally, after an augmented couple of minutes he turned to me.

"There's a Vampire heading for Forks and the Volturi are tracking him."

My face collapsed, the smile that had been lingering from our tight embrace vanished as I relayed all possible outcomes and solutions to this devastation in my head. Our family bliss had been wrenched from us. Alice had been keeping an eye on Charlie through her visions and would never unduly worry us so I knew she'd seen, or at least anticipated something serious.

"His name is Vasek, we know of him, of the legends that surround him. He has lived through millennia and become more savage with each day. Bella, I have to tell you this, if we are to return to Forks then you have to know what he is, he is a killer, more than a killer for blood, he is a killer for meat, for sport, for his own sadistic joy."

"I understand."

"You don't Bella, you can't! He could destroy the town in a lightning strike if someone were to provoke him!"

"So why is he heading for Forks?"

"He has heard of our coven but not of our move. He is heading for Forks to ask for sanctuary with us. The Volturi want him dead, he struck down two of their members and a mate of another."

"Oh."

"Yes Bella. Oh."

Swiftly he sped inside the house; I could hear him telling Carlisle and Esme the news. Nessie and Jacob were laughing in the living room, still blissfully unaware of the dangers that were soon to befall us all once more. I rushed upstairs and began packing a couple of cases for Edward and I, still grappling with the idea that such a terror was about to hit Forks, the town I'd come to love. I heaved with little effort, the cases down the stairs; I had a debate in my head over whether to take Renesme to such a dangerous place but then decided I could never leave her. I ran up once more and packed things for her and Jacob. Then, even more ashen faced than was natural for me now I flung myself into the living room. Jacob quickly switched off the television and stared, piercingly at me.

"It's happened again, hasn't it?"

"It's about to. This time worse, we have to go"

I left Jacob to explain the details to Renesme whilst I hauled our things into the Jeep, Carlisle's latest automotive extravagance. Edward came hurtling down the stairs, Carlisle and Esme in tow, each carrying a suitcase, Carlisle's rattling oddly. I looked up at him, "medicine, anti venom, anything that might help should something happen". I smiled gratefully, there was a reason Carlisle was a Doctor, he had the compassion of a Saint that drilled through his cold vampire exterior and let him be one of the kindest people I had ever known.

We all crammed into the Jeep and the Volvo, shutting up the house behind us. Back to Forks, back to where it all began and where it looked like it was all going to end. Renesme shifted quietly in her seat, I glanced in the rear view mirror, she was gripping Jacob's had with all the might she had. She might have the knowledge and bravado of someone much older but really she was just a tiny young girl. I stared at Edward who was transfixed on the road ahead, suddenly he turned to me and said, "I love you Bella. You are part of my soul." If my eyes had it within their capabilities I would have been crying icy tears of sorrow, fear and desperation.

It would take us days to travel through Canada and back to Washington but there wasn't time to buy plane tickets and running was totally impractical with Renesme on board as she tired easily. We had to stick it out; clinging on to the hope that we wouldn't arrive too late, that Vasek had changed his course or that the Volturi had already caught up with him. Anything that stopped us breaking down in sheer panic and rage, our lives were once again going to change.


End file.
